Demokrati på erhvervsuddannelser med afsæt i social- og sundhedsuddannelser

[Democracy at vocational education based on social and health care programmes]

Abstract

Since the year 2000, the Danish vocational education and training institutions have been legally required to include the educational objective of educating the students to participate in democracy. We examine the implementation of the requirement from a student perspective, through interviews with twelve newcomers at a social and health care college. Our focus is the student experience in school and their expectations for their working life. 

With the theoretical approach of John Dewey’s philosophy on democracy and education we find a diversity among students. Some students are very active and express their opinions while others choose to be reluctant in public. In social science, the students learn about representative democracy but democracy as a social practice is limited in other subjects and in the classroom. However, the teachers’ role seems important for the students’ courage to speak up. The article concludes that some students might be in risk of exclusion of democracy, and we suggest more research in didactical approaches to address this.